Keep Calm and Carry On?

A sad situation which has come to light over the last month. It is in relation to a TRO on London Road between St Martin’s Church on London Road and Wych Elm Close on London Road. I heard about this TRO in December last year. I immediately let the Warden of St Martin’s church know as well as the Rev Ken Boyce about the matter as they and their Congregation would be most affected by this.

The historic Church and Hall of ST Martin’s is an integral part of our community where many users use the facilities for Worship, community activities such as Fitness activities, Playgroups and meetings, parties as well as the traditional marriage ceremonies, christenings and funerals. The use of on street parking is vital to the Church and its success. The TRO proposed would effectively cause residents and Church users alike to park in already congested side streets like Victoria Avenue & Sebright Avenue or much further away, thus causing the same issues further along the road.

The TRO for Double yellow lines was recommended on the back of complaints received regarding the bottlenecking issues between the post office on London road and the Church, where the gap tightens and restricts the flow of traffic causing jams and pileups. The Church users and local members recognized there was a issue and set to find a solution to satisfy all parties. Upon Investigation and private consultation the Church Warden Bill Simpson came up with a perfectly reasonable solution and compromise of single yellow lines between 8-6.30 pm Mon-Fri .

Over the coming months many letters of objection were sent via city and county councilors as well as some church users, and finally last month it was decided that enough was enough and a decision was made. To our horror none of the sensible, logical and common sense proposed by myself or the Church were taken into consideration and the original order was agreed. I would like to point out that we have vociferously opposed this and all the proper channels were engaged in voicing these concerns, however neither was a meeting with church users or residents held nor a visit was made by the man in charge of the department at County Hall to come to site and assess the TRO for himself.

I have to say I am bitterly disappointed that after being consulted for over six months on the issue no compromise was reached and I doubt that I am the only one to feel this way. I know as Brits we have incredible resilience and fighting spirit, I ask in this situation do we keep Clam and Carry on? or bang our heads against a brick wall repeatedly .

Answers on a postcard please!